Alabama 2011: It was year of major stories but April 27 tornadoes loom biggest of all

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — It only took a few minutes to break Alabama's heart and scar the state's landscape for years to come.

Waves of tornadoes plowed across the northern two-thirds Alabama on April 27, killing about 250 people and leaving a path of destruction that stretched for hundreds of miles. Entire neighborhoods were ripped to shreds when the winds finally calmed.

The pain and damage would have been awful if the destruction had been limited to just one town, or a single county. As it happened, an entire state was left in mourning — and looking for ways to help.

The breathtaking carnage of spring was Alabama's top news story of 2011, and it's something Brent Earnest still has a hard time discussing more than seven months later. He remembers seeing victims' bodies covered by sheets in a neighborhood north of Birmingham and helping rescue survivors from the rubble afterward.

"It was just heart-breaking," said Earnest, a burly contractor from Gardendale.

The devastation of that day — and the recovery that will continue well into 2012 and beyond — eclipsed all other stories, including two that drew international attention to the state: The passage of the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration and the subsequent fallout, and the decision by Jefferson County to file the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history for $4.1 billion in debt, much of it linked to corrupt bond deals.

• Budget shortfalls hit state agencies, shrinking the size of government by 1,100 workers.

• Gunman kills one and wounds three on community college campus in Opelika before surrendering to the media.

• Alabama loses in the race to build Air Force refueling tankers and Carnival ends cruises in Mobile, dampening economic prospects in the port city.

• Civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth Jr. dies in Birmingham.

Determined by the Alabama staff of The Associated Press.

The corruption trial of state officials and gambling executives ended with mass acquittals and mistrials in Montgomery, and Republicans in control of the Statehouse for the first regular session since Reconstruction flexed muscle by passing their "Handshake with Alabama" legislation. On the coast, a vital part of the state's tourist industry recovered as beachgoers returned a year after the BP oil spill, despite the occasional tar ball that still rolls in.

State government shed about 1,100 workers because of budget shortfalls; a shooting on a community college campus in Opelika turned deadly; and Mobile's economic picture darkened when the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., lost out on an Air Force contract that could have brought thousands of jobs to the region. Weeks later, Carnival Corp. decided to quit sailing cruise ships from the port. In October, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth died at age 89 in Birmingham, where he once led civil rights protests.

But it was the tornadoes of April that gripped the state's attention like nothing else in years.

Forecasters had warned for days that the South was in for a major outbreak of severe weather, and the first round of twisters cut across the state in the morning. The merciless onslaught lasted all day with winds exceeding 200 mph in spots; it seemed like nowhere was safe.

Soon, the nation knew the names of cities and communities that bore the brunt of the storm's wrath: Tuscaloosa, Phil Campbell, Hackleburg, Pleasant Grove, Concord, Harvest, Cordova, Ruth, Shoal Creek Valley .... the list went on and on. Nearly 2,800 people were injured and about 23,500 homes were destroyed or damaged, leaving thousands homeless.

Within days, busloads of volunteers showed up to remove downed trees, and relief groups needed warehouses to store all the donated clothes furniture and food. In many places, volunteers are now rebuilding homes.

Emergency management officials estimated 62 tornadoes did $1.1 billion in total damage and left 10 million cubic yards of debris, or enough to create a mile-high rubble pile if stacked on a football field. Put together, the tornadoes left a path of destruction 10 miles wide and 610 miles long, or about the distance from Birmingham to Columbus, Ohio.

Some of that damage is still visible through Katie Rodgers' living room window just a few miles north of downtown Birmingham.

Rodgers and her husband Louis finally began moving back into their brick home on Dec. 3, or more than six months after a tornado ripped off much of the roof and sent trees limbs crashing through drywall. Rodgers said the Federal Emergency Management Agency urged her to demolish the structure, but she and her husband held firm and are now back in the house where they've lived since 1972.

Standing on her front stoop, Rodgers barely recognizes her neighborhood on Chevelle Street. Four of the 17 lots are now empty, including one beside her home, and the house across the street appears abandoned, much of its roof missing. It's easy to see the two badly damaged apartment buildings up the street — all the trees are gone.

But Rodgers and her husband are happily at home after living with relatives for months, and most of their neighbors are coming back, too. No one was killed in their neighborhood and new homes are being built to replace old ones, so things could be a lot worse.

"It's coming along," said Rodgers. "I think we are going to be all right."